Military Question a point of accuracy for a sci fi short story

[Skyviper]

Hey I'm working on a sci fi short story and I have some parts that call for an arty strike and another that calls for Air Support.

 

I've never served so I don't know the protocols for these.

 

I would like to know, if possible, how the calls would be transmitted. What would the officer or spotter say to the artillery officer or what would the artillery team leader say in reply?

 

Same for air strikes what's some of the basic chatter that happens before an airstrike is started and or after?

 

I want these segments to be true to life or at least well enough so when someone reads the story they know I put some dedication into getting things done right.

 

Thank you for your time.

[Sheriff]

What is the time frame? If too far in future we'd be looking at totally non-vocal comms. Fast but not very dramatic.

Edited August 30, 2013 by Sheriff

[Skyviper]

Futuristic very futuristic lets say for sake of argument 300 years from now

[+daddyairplanes]

Talk to EricJ. He would be knowledgable, and writes military sci fi to boot

[+JediMaster]

I'm fairly certain the protocols used today differ quite a bit from those used in the late 19th century. I would venture that if you go out just 100 years from now they will differ again.

 

My "best guess" would be working from an image made from a UAV, satellite, spec ops team, or other type of forward-observer that would derive GPS coords from that picture, and those coords being passed to the arty targeting computer electronically.

You'd probably have verbal commands limited to "acquire target", "target acquired", "set fire X number of rounds in Y pattern (time between rounds perhaps, dispersion, etc)", and "fire."

 

By then arty will likely be individually homing any way, by lidar or radar or some other sensor in the nose of the shell, pretty much guaranteeing anything on the surface that can be seen will be hit and likely destroyed. Only by hiding (either underground or by camo) will they avoid being seen and therefore being hit.

 

Well, there will likely be anti-arty energy weapons that would attempt to detonate incoming shells at a non-lethal altitude.

 

 

If you want to know what current arty commands sound like, Arma has them in there fairly authentic. But they're done verbally, and that's just not going to be how it's done 30 years from now let alone 300.

[turkeydriver]

For 300 years in the future it wouldn't be voice comms. It would automatically handled by a sensor network that responds to an action on the battlefield. If you want the human element, I'd say a requester would tap a map grid and tap the type ordnance requested with near real time laydown.

[macelena]

Probably, warfare will have changed so much that there wont be an equivalent to artillery as we understand it, but since it is fiction, you could adapt the procedures to the specifications of the technology and weapons system.

[MAKO69]

Drones are used to spot some arty and airstrikes now. I had school in both calling arty and air strikes that was almost 20 years ago, so much has changed on the battle field since then. You could youtube it, see if there is any online I can only Imagine (uh oh used my Imagination watch out for the SIM NARC reality police) in the future there will only be more drones or autonomous machines that will handle most of the work. I just hope a flesh and blood human is there to give the final OK before the weapons are sent. I also hope there is no war that far into the future, hopefully we will all be muslim by then.

[+Typhoid]

For 300 years in the future it wouldn't be voice comms. It would automatically handled by a sensor network that responds to an action on the battlefield. If you want the human element, I'd say a requester would tap a map grid and tap the type ordnance requested with near real time laydown.

For 300 years in the future it wouldn't be voice comms. It would automatically handled by a sensor network that responds to an action on the battlefield. If you want the human element, I'd say a requester would tap a map grid and tap the type ordnance requested with near real time laydown.

concur. Just about there now.

 

The fire support request would come in as a date highlight over the situational display, be validated by Command with a few clicks, and and acted on by the fire support unit (wide possibilities in delivery systems) with rounds on target in seconds.

 

we are almost there now.

[Skyviper]

Cool guys thank you all so much for taking the time to chime in on this.

 

I will have the human element there even when I use a somewhat automated system. My arty team is on a big freaking ship above the planet though. Think about a Star Trek or Star Wars ship meets AC-130. Don't get me wrong the ship can do actions without a ground team because the enemy in this scenario is subterranean. Any opfor that is above ground is wasted almost immediately. Ground forces are there to clear the enemy out underground. The enemy uses  tech that prevents a lot of drones from being used in their tunnels.

 

This story has humans invading an alien world (we get some for a change). Why? You'll have to read to find out.

 

Once again thank you all for your time.

[+JediMaster]

Oh, wow, orbital arty? Significant increase in distance then! Also would look pretty cool, like the Autobots arriving in Earth in the first Transformers film.